Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors refinished stocks on pre64 model 70's

Ive seen a lot of refinished stocks on these guns for sale.On the really good jobs-what is the general cost it took to have it match the factory finish? and regardless of how nice it was done,is the value for the gun always going to be less then a factory stock?

Difficult, if not impossible to put a 'general' cost on refinishing a stock....
IMO a refinished stock has less value than an original stock....

My first Pre 64 M70 was (and is as I still have it) a FWT 308. The stock finish was in bad shape when I bought the rifle. After a few years it got to the point it needed to be redone. The new finish is not only pleasing to the eye but durable and will protect the wood. I used Winchesters finish stain (0r so it was advertised as such) and the rifle came out very nice. Is it worth less now who knows but I don't care, the wood is protected against the elements and I have pride in it taking it to deer camp.

I do not care for refinished stock from any manufacturer. And it de-values the gun. There are those out in the world that care not for original finish and have done excellent jobs of refinishing. I personally desire a gun with some character. For every one that has been refinished it can never be retuned to original, thus making mine more valuable every day.

In the scheme of things, a refinished stock will diminish the collector value, but increase the life of the stock. Also, I've seen some "re-finished" stocks that were far nicer than they were from the factory. True collectors scoff at a refinished stock, but someone that wants to use it in the field will welcome the reduction in price and be thankful it will endure more harsh conditions...

The two previous posts both make good points. "Character" is fine. But if you want to use the rifle in conditions where the finish is no longer able to protect the wood, and you are risking a different sort of damage than simply adding more character, you have come to a crossroads. At least that is how I see it.

The question of to refinish a gun has been brought up many, many times and IMHO a little TLC goes along ways in preserving the overall life of the gun. Parker collectors as well as Winchester collectors will scoff at the idea but as a caretaker of these fine pieces of history helping them survive another 50-100 years is one of the reasons I have and enjoy them.
The English think nothing of sending their Purdey's and Holland&Hollands back to get refurbished. Why do we as Americans have such a big hang up about it?

I got a mod 70 govt 06 transition out of the PNW, I bought it to hunt, an oldtimer told me many,many years ago it was the best of both worlds in the mod 70 shooting ,hunting world. I looked at photos and knew the stock looked better than factory, sure enough the stock is far better than it walked out of factory, the metal was untouched and the bolt head, bore and way it shot, feed ramp told me it was shot very little, does the stock being refinished bother me ? True answer , not one bit! Im not trying to put a collection of NIB guns together, I shoot every one except this dam crate gun and if I ever get in the baby blue, 8 oz bud lites early in the day, I may do just that! Its all good with these pre 64's. very best WinPoor

And updated, if they are inclined. Nor does doing so seem to decrease the value much if any. However, older English shotguns had some issues when used hard due to the metal quality of the time and often needed to be tightened up. English weather doesn't win any prizes either and they have little hesitancy in using there good stuff in it.

Yes, Americans are a strange bunch when it comes to using good firearms for what they were made for.

If we Americans typically sent our guns back to the manufacturer for refurbish and update, I suspect our collector market would be more accepting of the work.

Colt seems to have pretty good records on the Single Action Army. From the VERY LITTLE I know about it, it seems perfectly fine "collector value wise" for one of those to have been returned to the factory for refinish, or even a different finish, a change of barrel, different grips, or engraving. It all seems to come down to who did the work and if there is documentation to prove it.

Ok for Grandad to scratch one up in that he had a story to tell, but you best not. Funny when you think about it.

Seems like true collectors are more into looking at a good rifle vs hunting one. Need more than a few collector Model 70s to live out a comfortable retirement and most don't make the cut and never will. Chasing a few dollars vs living is a poor tradeoff.

If it's going hunting, then refinish it to be more weather-resistant. Otherwise, you end up ruining it's "original" value also.

My featherweight 06 that my father bought me when I was born had the finish flake off like most. I refinished it and I care not what some collector thinks. It's my rifle and will be until I die then I absolutely don't care.

Perfect. Not many own a rifle cradle to grave. I hope you own it for a LONG time!

I have bought mint, or near mint rifles, because it pleases me. Never hesitated to hunt any of them, as that also pleases me.
They're mine, and someone else's concerns about my rifles never concerns me a bit.

Amen!!!

Nor should it. I may or may not agree with what you choose to do. I think hunting a mint one is cool. I think parting out a perfectly good rifle is not cool. But you are absolutely right that what you do with with your property is your business, and none of mine or anyone else's. Too many things aren't that way anymore.

Gundoc, at some point, it's almost better to just slap a McMillan stock on a good rifle and hunt the hell out of it without worry of ruining a lot of collector value. I find the thing that has the tendency of getting ruined out in the field is the stock/wood and not the bluing or steel. This is the reason I have most of my pre 64's stocked in Mcmillans and brown precision stocks right now. I will probably keep my '56 30-06 fwt as original as possible, but really hate dragging it through the brush around here. I see your guys' point about refinishing a "messed with" stock. It does absolutely no harm to refinish a stock that has been glass bedded or one that has been cut for a pad. I always consider these stocks to be "hunters" and I much prefer using them out in the woods or even off the bench for that matter than the original fwt stock (aluminum or plastic plates). Hell, I sold my original 375 H&H stock to throw it into a "shooter" stock and now it's on to another stock now (Mcmillan coyote bomber swirly). Trust me, I'll always be able to sell the rifle for more than I have into it. The moral of the story is to buy them cheap and sell for a little profit or break even if you are selling to a good buddy/friend. Right EricM....

Let me show you guys some stocks I've refinished:

Rifle I sold to raybass. 1963 std wt 30-06: Notice the 1" pachmayr decelerator pad. It was on it when I bought it, so it was the perfect candidate for a "re-finish"...:



I also thought it was the perfect candidate for a good bedding job..

1957 270 fwt: I bought this stock from Oregon 45 here:

It was scuffed up when I got it and needed a new pad. I decided to go with a Winchester re-pro (Galazan) on this one:



1956 30-06 fwt. I inletted an aluminum butt plate on this stock because the original plastic plate was broken in 2 pieces. I also refinished and glass bedded it:

Great job on those stocks-If you care to share the products you use to re-finish your stocks,and techniques-that would be great.I can see that the stocks can come out looking better then factory due to the better products available today ,then what was available years ago-not to mention the people at the factory only had so much time too get the rifle finished.